World: SAVAK: Like the CIA

The 5,000-member Iranian secret police force SAVAK (a contraction
of the Farsi words for security and information organization) has long
been Iran's most hated and feared institution. With virtually unlimited
powers to arrest and interrogate, SAVAK has tortured and murdered
thousands of the Shah's opponents. Last week, in fulfillment of a
promise made by Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar, the assembly approved
a bill abolishing SAVAK and establishing a new National Intelligence
Center, without police powers. The No. 2 man in SAVAK agreed to an
unprecedented interview with TIME Correspondent David S. Jackson at the
organization's heavily guarded, marble-decorated fortress headquarters
in...